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This downtown wine shop will look like a strip club with a 'Twin Peaks' twist

When somebody's really good at something, it's easy to assume it's their passion. And Jeremy Johnson, owner of Meta cocktail bar at 425 W. Chestnut St. has a “weird special talent" for making cocktails, he says. “But that doesn't mean it's my passion. Having a background in fine dining, I really miss working with wine.”

“The Wine Market [in the Highlands] went out of business, and what we're going to do is super cool funky wine like the Wine Market that everyone misses … (and) cordials, aperitifs, digestifs, Amari,” he says. “The only people who sell Fernet and Amari ... (is) Total Wine. People my age don't want to go to Total Wine. But if you could go to the place that looks like 'Twin Peaks' and buy the weird stuff...”

That's his vision.

So “I designed the damn thing like the red room in 'Twin Peaks,'” he said. Don't know "Twin Peaks?" That makes at least two of us that haven't seen it (the original or reboot).

Let Johnson explain.

“The red room is like, there's a debate. Either it's this purgatory between the two lodges, white and black. Spiritually, the white lodge is the purest thing, and the black lodge is where people who feed on pain go. A fun analogy for hell. The red room a lot of people assume is the black lodge. But people also think it may be the waiting room for both.”

Meta owner Jeremy Johnson found this relic of the former strip bar in the wall during build out of his new wine shop Show & Tell.(Photo: Courtesy of Dana McMahan)

Well ... “It looks like a sex club,” he says.

Which makes sense, given that the earlier occupant of the space — and the original holder of the name Show & Tell — was, in fact, a strip club.

Think red velvet, black and white chevron patterned floor, and the real star of the show, a red neon dancer's silhouette in the tinted mirror behind the desk. Yep, that's original — they found it in the wall during the build-out.

Johnson dreamed up the design of the space and worked with Robert Brown on the build, with RockerBuilt custom crafting some of the displays.

So what can patrons of Show & Tell expect? Well, you can get your value wine, your boxed stuff, Johnson says, because he wants to make everyone happy. But he's going to really indulge his passion for good wines, he says.

“I can sell wine better than anyone. When I was a server I had everyone's number. I miss having a rich dude sitting down at my table and being like 'you really want this wine,'" he said.

That love for fine wines was really inspired by iconic Louisville restaurateur Bim Dietrich, who Johnson spent quite a bit of time working for at various restaurants.

“He empowered me to learn about wine. He knew that I had a taste for it. He taught me to taste wine and really care in a way that I never would have [otherwise]," he said.

Including the random, esoteric stuff you might not see elsewhere (like pommeau, for instance, he assured me. If you haven't had this delicious aperitif, a mixture of apple juice and Calvados from Normandy, be sure to check it out when he stocks it.)

And you don't even have to come in to enjoy the selection. Delivery is a key component of the business. They'll roll out first with hotels later this year, and a number you call, but he plans to eventually add residential delivery in neighboring areas, probably with an app for ordering.

I had to ask: Why develop your own app when you could just sign on with something like drinks delivery service Drizly?

“I'm just not into it,” he says. “All those apps, every time you read about them, what you hear is how they're taking advantage of small businesses. I've been through too much as a small business. I have been through the damn wringer and have survived somehow ... I don't try to fix my wagon to anyone.”

Show & Tell should be open by early to mid-August. Follow along at instagram.com/showandtellatmeta/.